Thursday, July 26, 2012

Small Town, Big Hearts

I am from a small town in North Carolina. I always
say God kissed the earth and called it Boone, North Carolina. When you grow up
in Boone a part of your heart stays there. It does not matter if you move away
forever and you come back whenever you know your soul needs the fresh mountain
air or you know raising a family anywhere else would be an injustice to your
children. When Byron joined the Coast Guard we were so excited about the
adventure, of the unknown. Yet at the same time,we both knew there was going to be so much we would miss about “home”.
Not only is Boone beautiful but it is full of beautiful people. When there is
something to celebrate like weddings and babies the warmth and love you feel
from the community is amazing. Even more, when tragedy strikes and the dark
days come the entire community pulls together and helps you get through it as
best you can.

It seems this year there has been a lot of tragedy
in my small town. It seems that there is more tragedy there than normal. Then I
realized I felt that because we all know everyone and we all hurt when a fellow
Boone native hurts. We all cry and mourn the loss and we never forget. Life is
so hard and when tragedy strikes it makes you latch on to your loved ones and
hold on for dear life. But no one really understands unless you are the one
that has lost someone. And losing someone when they are young and have so much
life to live is so hard to understand. It is impossible to not ask God why? Why
did they have to go so soon? Why am I still here without them?

At 26 weeks pregnant I feel my precious baby
kicking. I feel movement and life and nothing in the world is more exciting to
me than the life that will soon arrive. Byron and I feel blessed beyond
measure. We are overjoyed with this blessing and I wake up every day with a new
sense of excitement that I had never felt before. The moment you find out that
you are expecting the world looks different. You see the world from a parents
view point. You look at what you are bringing your child into. So much of this
world is beautiful but at the same time there is so much evil and heartbreak as
well. I would love to protect my child from anything that could ever harm her
or cause her pain but that is impossible. All I can teach her is how to deal
with it and where to put her faith. Everyone who is brought into this world
will be taken out. Sometimes it is from sickness, sometimes from tragedy and
even worse sometimes by another’s hands that derives from pure evil.

We are all born with a good and evil in our hearts
and we have to choose which path we will follow. We have to choose how we value
life. In all honesty it is a simple choice. It is not always easy but it is
simple. And for those who choose good and choose life truly break when a life
is chattered. There is sincere
compassion for another human being. I want to teach my children how sacred and
special life is. How to value it and take care of it. How to guard their
hearts. When tragedy strikes there is one verse that always consumes my thoughts
and they are the only words I know to speak to those suffering from a loss…

And the peace of God, which transcends
all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians
4:7

A peace that passes all understanding.
Only through Christ can we find that kind of peace. Without Christ there is no
peace. There is no hope. There are no bright days. Without him your heart can
turn very dark, very quickly. Life will beat you down, Satan comes in to “steal,
kill and destroy” (John 10:10). He wants to break you down so much that you
will not recover that you will turn from Christ or never really find him in the
first place. He wants you to focus on the anger and the hole in your heart. As Christians
it is normal to ask “why?” but we have to trust in him. God does not want us to
go through dark days. When we are broken so is Christ. But this world is full
of evil and at times it seems that evil is winning. At the end of our lives is
when we look back and see all that we have gone through good and bad. It is
when we can see where God was able to get us through the dark days and bring us
bright ones again. But as a Christian it will not be until we get to heaven
will we see the full work of God in our lives and the love, grace and mercy
that Christ is. Until that day when we see all the loved ones we have lost,
until we see Christ we have to survive on faith. We have to trust in him fully.
And even more we have to show that love and faith to the world. We need to
bring others to Christ so they can have the peace that passes all
understanding. So that we can all rejoice in heaven. So at the end of our lives
we can see more bright days than dark ones. As long as we are in this world
there will be tragedy and death. It is unavoidable. My prayer is for peace for all the precious Boone families that
are going through heart break and loss. I thank God for our community and for his
grace and love shown through his followers. I pray through tragedy others are
brought to Christ and in heaven we can all celebrate together. I love my Boone
family and will always be praying. I pray for more bright days and for peace
that will pass all understanding.